Mirror
As a little girl, Mikasa’s parents often took her with them to their friends the Jaegers. She would then play with their son, Eren.
One day, the two were playing outside, at the edge of a forest. A trench ran between the back yard and the forest, but the children had used a few planks to make a bridge. They were each holding a stick, swinging it around like swords.
Mikasa knocked the stick out of Eren’s hand, pointing the end of hers at his face. “I win.” She announced.
“Mikasa! You can’t win! I’m Ran, the master swordsman!” the boy shouted, referring to a tv show.
“Why do you always have to be Ran?”
“Girls can’t play Ran, he’s a boy. But you can play the evil Zeni.”
“Well, then Ran just lost to Zeni.” Mikasa said simply.
“No! Ran never loses! Evil can’t beat good!” he grabbed at Mikasa’s stick, pulling it from her lose grip. “Die, evil witch!” he yelled, swinging the stick at her.
Mikasa stepped back, Eren always took these games way too seriously. He didn’t hit her, but tears still sprung to her eyes. “Eren, you idiot!” she shouted and ran away, deeper into the forest.
She hadn’t really paid attention to where she ran, but slowed down as the trees started to lessen. An old house stood in the middle of a clearing, a two meter high wall running down its sides, cutting the forest in half.
Curious, Mikasa poked at the dark wooden door, which opened with a creaking sound. Inside it was dark, save for the few beams of sunlight that filtered through the filthy or broken windows. The air was damp and smelled of wet wood and dust.
She tread further, reaching a staircase. Water seeped out of the wood with each step she took, a hallway awaiting her at the top. Light fell through a hole in the ceiling, and she walked towards it.
Something on her left moved, but when she looked, it was her reflection. Dirt was caked to the glass in patterns only the rain could have made. The mirror reached from the floor to the ceiling, the lower part completely concealed by dirt. The reflection was vague, but Mikasa dispelled it as caused by aging.
She walked on, but was met by a wall only a few meters further. She turned around, glancing at the mirror as she passed.
Mikasa stopped. She did not have blonde hair. She turned back to the mirror, and saw another girl standing where her reflection was supposed to be.
A few blonde locks framed the girl’s face, the rest tied in a bun. Icy blue eyes observed her curiously. Her hands were stuffed in the pockets of a gray hoodie, black shorts trailing of in the muddy underside of the mirror.
“Hi.” Mikasa said. The other girl had spoken at the same moment, but she heard no one besides herself. “I’m Mikasa.”
The girl shook her head, pointing at her ears, and formed soundless words with her mouth. Mikasa pointed at herself and wrote her name on the glass. The girl nodded, and wrote her name as well. Annie.
They smiled, placing their hands on the glass at the same spot.
Mikasa turned around as she heard shouting. Voices carried inside through the gap in the roof, they probably were looking for her. She turned back to the mirror, where the other girl looked at her with questions in her eyes.
“Bye.” Mikasa said, waving. Annie waved back, watching as she left.
She ran out of the house, following the voices. She found her and Eren's parents looking for her a bit further in the forest.
“Mikasa! There you are, we were so worried.” her mother said, hugging her.
“Eren, don't you have anything to say to Mikasa?” Dr Jaeger said.
“... I'm sorry.”
“Alright, let's go back.” he said.
“Geez, Mikasa. Why did you have to run of like that? The woods can be a scary place. Did you get hurt?” her mother asked.
“No, I'm fine.”
As they reached the makeshift bridge to the Jaeger’s lawn, Eren turned around. “I heard there lives a witch deep in the woods, cursing everyone she sees.”
“Eren! Don't scare her!” Grisha scolded.
Mikasa thought of Annie. Is that what happened? Had she run into the witch, who trapped her in the mirror? But it was clear that no one lived in the house anymore, so it must've been a long time since that happened.
A few weeks later Mikasa's parents died in a car crash, and the Jaegers adopted her. She would often run of into the forest, looking for the old house. Annie was there almost every time, and while they couldn't hear each other, they learned to read the words from their lips, see the emotions in their eyes.
When she was fifteen, Mikasa transferred to a new school, together with Eren. It was in the opposite direction of their old school, and offered the option of martial arts instead of the usual PE. It had been the reason the two of them decided to nag at their parent’s until they gave in. Carla had been especially displeased with the idea, anything that could harm the children brought a frown to her face.
On the morning of their first day the teens rode their bikes to their new school. Being in the center of the city made it easy to find, and once there all they had to do was follow others who went to put their bikes away.
After that they went to look for Armin, it had been three years since they last went to the same school as him. As they walked around, Mikasa realized just how big the school was. You could easily spend years there without ever seeing half of the students, even if they were in the same grade.
They found the blond boy near the entrance of building A, where he greeted them happily. They discussed their schedules, and it turned out Eren and Armin were in the same class. Armin decided to help Mikasa find her class before heading off to his own.
She was early, no one else was there yet. And while she trusted Armin, the longer she was there alone, the more the feeling that she was in the wrong class crept up to her.
When two boys stepped into the room, she released a breath of relief into her scarf. She didn’t like to admit it, but new things and places made her nervous.
The boys were in the middle of a conversation, but stopped when they saw her. After silently staring at her for a few seconds, one of them joined her at the desk.
“Hi, I’m Jean. You… you have beautiful hair.” He said, blush creeping over his cheeks.
“Thanks.” Mikasa said, wondering if he had anything else to say.
“I’m Marco.” The other boy joined in, realizing his friend was a bit uncomfortable.
“Mikasa.” She introduced herself.
Marco looked between the two, Mikasa seemed like the quiet type and Jean still had that blush on his cheeks.
“So, um…” he started, breaking the silence. “Our class is a bit small, since there aren’t many people who are interested in both martial arts and chemistry. There are three more people, and they’re all nice so I’m sure you’ll get along greatly.”
“Yeah, and if you need anyone to show you around, I would gladly show you.” Jean added.
“Thanks.”
At lunchtime she went to look for Armin and Eren, accompanied by Jean and Marco. Their attention was drawn by a group of cheering students.
“Oh, great. Looks like someone started a fight again.” Jean said.
Mikasa headed for the group, hoping Eren wasn’t involved. When she reached the center of the circle, she saw him fighting with a bulky blond guy. Eren managed to land a kick strong enough to send him to the ground.
“That’ll teach you, you- gah!” he wasn’t able to finish his sentence when a small blonde girl kicked him in the stomach. Mikasa leapt into the circle, placing herself between Eren and the girl, who had planned on hitting him again. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the girl was Annie. Annie herself looked just as surprised.
Behind her, the bulky guy had gotten up. “What’s the matter Annie? Why don’t you beat them up?”
Annie turned her head in his direction, but kept her eyes on Mikasa. “Since you’re new here I’ll explain the rules. To anyone who hurts my friends I’ll return the favor double.” She looked at Eren as she spoke. “I’ll let you off the hook now, but I won’t be so kind next time.”
Eren scowled, but before he could retort, a teacher broke through the group of students, who quickly scattered. Jean came to stand in front of Mikasa, blocking her view.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” He guided her and Eren away to a bench. “You really know how to pick a fight, don’t you?”
“What do you mean? He insulted me, so of course I defend myself.” Eren said.
“That guy was Reiner Braun. He’s one of the best fighters in school. And that girl was Annie Leonhardt. She is the best fighter in school. I’ve never seen her lose before, hell, no one dares to fight her. There’s one more guy to their group, Berthold. They stick together so much that if you even say one word to one of them, you’ll get all three to beat you up.”
“They didn’t seem so scary.” Eren said.
“That’s because you don’t know them. They practically rule the school, and the teachers don’t do anything about it because they never get caught, and their grades are good. But honestly, they’re the worst kind of thugs you’ll ever see in your life.”
Mikasa narrowed her eyes. True, she had never seen Annie in school before, but she knew her side of the story. And she sure as hell didn’t like her best friend being called a thug. Even if she only heard her voice for the first time this day. She chose to ignore what he just said, seeing as even Eren didn’t know about her.
When she came home from school, she immediately went to the old building. It took a while, but Annie showed up, smiling as she saw her.
“You’re real.” Mikasa said.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Annie asked.
“… It’s going to sound stupid but… Eren once told me about a witch who cursed everyone she saw when I was little. I thought she had trapped you in there, and I never really thought about it as I got older.”
“Really? You still believe in curses?” Annie wasn’t making fun of her.
“No. I was just so used to the idea of the girl trapped in the magic mirror that I never questioned it.”
“Magic mirror? I guess it can look like that, it’s pretty dark here. But I can see clearly on your side, so I used to think you lived here. Pretty stupid, now that I think about it. This place is a wreck.”
Mikasa chuckled. “I never thought I’d see you in real life. I mean, besides here.”
“Me neither. Was that your brother, back at lunch?”
“Yeah. Figures he has to start a fight on our first day. But at least I got to meet you.”
At the end of the school day, Mikasa had heard some rumors about Annie’s group. Apparently they were caught smoking weed and got suspended. However, to her knowledge, Annie didn’t smoke. They’d meet up in the old house anyway, so she’d ask her then.
For once Annie was there sooner than her, her schoolbag behind her. Despite still wearing her emotionless mask, Mikasa could sense something was wrong.
“Annie, what happened?” she asked.
“I was just hanging out with the boys. A teacher found us when they were smoking. They never caught us doing anything wrong, but they know the rumors. They used the chance to suspend Reiner and Berthold. Since I wasn’t smoking anything and didn’t look high, they just called my dad. He sounded so angry when he said we’d talk once I got home.” That explained why her bag was there. “I’m scared.”
She was on the verge of tears. Mikasa wanted hold her, but the glass was in the way. “Annie. Move.”
“What?”
“Move to the side.” Mikasa gestured as she wrapped her handkerchief over her knuckles.
Annie saw what she planned to do, and quickly moved out of the way. Mikasa took her stance, pulled her fist back, and hit the glass with all her strength. It cracked and shattered to both sides, leaving a big hole in the middle. Mikasa stepped over the shattered boundary, mindful of the jagged edge it’s frame still held.
She pulled Annie into a hug,
She gives annie her scarf, annie gets beaten over that the next day by over ten people, Mikasa comes to her rescue, when the teachers arrive they have to call an ambulance for Annie. they talk more in the hospital.